Beauty from horrors

February 22, 2009|HOWARD DUKES Tribune Staff Writer

Erwin Schulhoff was among the Jewish artists who were still creating after being put in concentration camps. "They did these performances for a variety of reasons," choreographer and Spectrum Dance Theater artistic director Donald Byrd says. "Sometimes, they did it to think about something else -- to forget their circumstances for a while. And sometimes, they were forced to create art to entertain the Nazis." Thursday through Saturday, the Seattle-based Spectrum will perform "The Theater of Needless Talents," which consists of dance, theatrical vignettes and cabaret music created to Schulhoff's music, at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. Whatever compelled Schulhoff, who died in 1942, to create, Byrd drew a couple of conclusions from his efforts, which inspired the creation of "The Theater of Needless Talents," which Notre Dame and Duke University co-commissioned. Byrd says one observation came from a contradiction that became apparent during his work on the piece. "There is a big contradiction in the piece that is very powerful," he says. "The pieces we perform are really beautiful, but the subject matter is not beautiful." Byrd says a tension exists between the art and the brutality that was taking place in Europe at the time. He says he often wonders if he would have been able to create under the conditions that Schulhoff faced. Byrd notes that there have been other circumstances where oppressed and brutalized people managed to create beautiful art. "You think about the slaves who created the spirituals," he says. "Human beings have an amazing capacity to create beauty out of suffering." Still, Byrd acknowledges that he doesn't know what he would do if he faced the kind of oppression Schulhoff had to confront. Would he be able to muster the strength to choreograph? "My hope is that under horrible circumstances that I would help other people," he says. Byrd adds that working on the piece helped him to realize that people have an obligation to learn and to do something about human suffering. "I wanted to do something that would help people consider the issue of genocide in the present-day," he says. "I want people to take the responsibility to do something about what is going on instead of just saying, 'That's horrible.' " Byrd says that he realizes that the atrocities occurring in places such as Darfur seem so large and complex that the average person living in the United States might feel that there is nothing one person can do, but he believes every person can make a difference. "But each person has to determine what action they should take," he says. Byrd says he believes his role was to use "The Theater of Needless Talents" to create a dialogue, and that the people who see it will talk about genocide with friends and family members. Perhaps they will find like-minded people who decide to get involved with trying to end the Darfur genocide. Byrd says that even if watching "The Theater of Needless Talents," inspires people to get involved in their local communities, he will be happy. "If you teach a child to be aware and get involved," he says, "that is really an important act."Staff writer Howard Dukes: hdukes@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6369